Thursday, 9 May 2013

DHL Global Forwarding, Freight - the air, ocean and road freight division of German logistics giant Deutsche Post DHl - are expanding the services they offer between Asia and Europe.

Image c/o DHL

Two new routes are now available that combine rail and road transportation: the first entails daily departures from Shanghai to Europe via the Trans-Siberian route; the second is a weekly departure from Chengdu through China's West corridor rail line. The new plans come shortly after DHL announced further development of its Asian network last month. Compared to current sea freight modes, customers are expected to benefit from reduced door-to-door lead times of up to 21 days compared to ocean freight, and - according to DHL - a 90% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to air freight.

A primary benefit of the first new route from Shanghai is that customers have the option of booking variable capacity. Amadou Diallo, CEO of DHL Freight, described it as a flexible solution with which customers can opt for capacities "ranging from a single container to a whole train."

The route from Chengdu is targeted towards customers based in the Szechuan capital. It is faster than the trans-Siberian route by up to eight days and has been introduced to address widening demand in China. The service departs on Fridays and reaches Europe via China's West Corridor rail line through Kazakhstan.